PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Philadelphia district attorney Seth Williams has created a new task force designed specifically to weed out public corruption in the city.

Although he doesn’t believe that corruption has surged here in recent years, DA Williams does acknowledge a longstanding culture of corruption in Philadelphia.

In an effort to change that culture, he’s hired Patrick Blessington, a longtime prosecutor with the state attorney general’s office, to form a new Corruption Prosecution Task Force.

“This task force will be formed in our office so we can more collaboratively work with the US attorney’s office, the attorney general of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Police Department, and the municipal inspector general so that we can ensure that Philadelphians clean up Philadelphia,” Williams said.

Williams says the task force will investigate corruption wherever it is found, from the police department to city agencies to corporate boardrooms.